it's not a bug, it's a feature

English

Alternative forms

  • INABIAF
  • it's a feature, not a bug

Etymology

Coined by American computer programmer Sandra Lee Harris in 1971 at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Phrase

it's not a bug, it's a feature

  1. (computing) What one user may consider a software bug, other users may consider to be a useful feature or an intentional consequence of the system's design.
  2. (humorous) A self-deprecating response when confronted by a bug in the software that one is authored or is introducing to another user.
  3. (by extension) Affirms the validity of a counterintuitive behavior within a system; it is by design.
    • 1999 September, “Long-term Test Cars”, in Popular Mechanics, New York City:
      One annoyance, or maybe it’s one of those “it’s-not-a-bug-it’s-a-feature” situations, is the gearshift.
    • 2025 May 15, Bart Jansen, quoting D. John Sauer, “Brown Jackson questioned how courts help multiple victims with only one litigant”, in USA Today‎[1], New York City, retrieved 15 May 2025:
      “It is a feature, not a bug of Article 3 that the courts grant relief for the people in front of them,” Sauer said.

Translations

See also

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